Interview The Star

Former Degrassi star Jake Epstein moves into more exploratory realm

Here's the astonishing thing about Jake Epstein: What you see is what you get.

The star of TV's Degrassi: The Next Generation is currently appearing as C.B., the Charlie Brown surrogate, in Dog Sees God, the ironic deconstruction of the legendary Peanuts characters that's now in previews at Six Degrees at 2335 Yonge St.

Epstein, 22, has been a performer for almost all of his life, making his professional stage debut in Soulpepper's Our Town at the Royal Alex before appearing on The Zack Files, prior to Degrassi and then going on to a stint at the National Theatre School.

But sitting opposite him at a midtown pub during rehearsals for his current project, he seems less like the quintessential teen heartthrob and more like the kind of guy you'd like to have with you on a cross-country ski trip.

"I was a jock," he laughs, "hardcore sports all the way down the line, but I heard that if you auditioned for this arts school, you got time off school and that sounded good to me."

Epstein is probably being a bit ingenuous when he discusses his early arts roots, because he later admits that "I came from a huge extended family of musicians," and his sister Gabi is one of the city's most skilled vocal stylists.

Still, he insists he was blindsided when he walked into Claude Watson to study theatre and found himself within a year working for Soulpepper Theatre.

"We'd be sitting out back," he recalls, "and Diego Matamoros would be smoking and giving us advice on our careers. While Peter Donaldson, who terrified all of us, would simply show us the way it had to be done."

After that, it was on to Mirvish Productions, where he played the Artful Dodger in Sam Mendes's production of Oliver!

"I never really thought that this would be my profession," he admits.

"I thought it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed doing it."

Without even trying, he got cast in shows like The Zack Files and admits that to this day, when it comes on at 3 a.m. at parties, his friends scream, "Jake, you're 12 years old and it's freaking me out!"

The big moment, of course, was when he was offered the role of Craig on Degrassi: The Next Generation.

Edgy and experienced beyond his years, young Epstein suddenly found himself doing things on screen he had never experienced in real life.

"There was one episode," he admits blushingly, "when I got a girl pregnant and I had never even had sex in real life.

"But people would assume I really was the character and would throw juice boxes at me, yelling 'Use a f-----g condom, man!'"

His character went through periods of drug abuse and violence that would have tipped the hand of many younger men playing the role.

"I was always incredibly grounded," laughs Epstein.

"I had my family, my friends and all the people I worked with.

"None of them ever confused the character I played with the person I was."

He stayed with the show for five seasons, became incredibly popular and won a Gemini Award but then, one day, he found himself asking "I'm 18 years old and I can do anything I want; why am I here?"

That question sent him away from the safety of a hit TV series and to the National Theatre School, where he found it "very hard and very humbling. They break you down and it was amazing for me."

After a whole lifetime of being "the good looking young guy," he was suddenly cast in a whole different variety of parts and he learned what acting was all about.

"It was working there that I realized that theatre was what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life, no question."

Since his graduation, he made a splash as Prince Charming in Ross Petty's Christmas production of Cinderella, opposite his Degrassi co-star, Paula Brancati.

But now he's into something completely different with Dog Sees God, which takes all the classic tropes of the Peanuts cartoon strip and turns them on their head.

The show begins, in fact, with the death of Snoopy and finds Charlie Brown (or "C.B." as he's called here) trying to cope with the trauma.

He renews his friendship with Beethoven (a.k.a. Schroeder) and finds himself going into decidedly gay areas.

"That's a little strange for me to deal with," says Epstein at first, but then he laughs dismissively and says "no, it isn't. What the hell, I'm in theatre!"

The rest of the show goes through a similar funhouse ride with all of the beloved Peanuts stereotypes and Epstein finds it an ultimately healing experience.

"There's something really wonderful about all the people you've known in your life coming together and meeting each other in a new and different way," exults Epstein.

And now, with revered archetypes juggling with new creations while the whole thing sizzles on the plate of dynamic invention, Epstein simply smiles.

"I just want everyone," he says, "to have fun."

Getting personal with Jake Epstein

Q: How did your experience of building houses in Kenya change you?
Lucija Prelovec, Toronto

A: It was incredible. I began to understand what the people in other parts of the world were going through and it opened my eyes enormously. There is so much more out there in the world.

Q: How did you feel about the changes that your character went though on Degrassi?
Eve Crawford, Toronto

A: What people have to understand is that I am nothing like the characters I play. If they take a certain path, it's because the writers decide that. It has nothing to do with me personally.

Q: Are you at all like the character of Craig you played on Degrassi?
Samantha Dallin, North York

A: Not at all! Craig frequently allowed circumstances to overwhelm him and send him into a negative spiral. I always try to keep myself looking for the upbeat side of things.

Q: Would you ever come back to Degrassi again?
Jim McCallum, Whitby

A: Absolutely. I loved doing the series and would consider it an honour to be able to appear with any of those characters again.

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